When to Prune Grapevines - in Winter and Summer, Step by Step

Step by step

1. 1

   Winter pruning before the sap rises

   The main grapevine pruning falls in dormancy, from December to February, or in colder regions in February and the first days of March. There is one condition: finish before the sap rises and the buds swell. This is when you remove most of last year's growth and tidy the vine.

2. 2

   Cut the canes back to 2-3 bud spurs

   Cut the canes meant to fruit back hard, usually leaving 2-3 buds on each. Such a short cane is a fruiting spur. Match the total number of buds on the whole vine to its vigor: load a weaker vine less, a stronger one a bit more.

3. 3

   Watch out for bleeding

   Do not put pruning off until early spring, when sap starts moving in the canes. Cuts made at that point weep sap for a long time, and that weakens the vine. If the sap is already flowing, postpone heavy pruning until summer or keep it to a minimum.

4. 4

   Tip the shoots in summer

   In summer, once the shoots carry a dozen or more leaves and outgrow the trellis, tip them - cut off the growing ends. This curbs excessive growth and channels energy into the fruit. Repeat the job as they regrow, through June, July and August.

5. 5

   Remove the laterals and expose the clusters

   Laterals, the side shoots growing from the leaf axils, should be snapped off while young and soft. Also remove the water sprouts, vigorous shoots with no clusters. A few weeks before ripening, expose the clusters by removing some of the leaves around them, to give the fruit more light and air.

6. 6

   Train the vine in its first years

   For the first two or three years, do not count on a big crop - build the vine's framework instead: a strong trunk and arms. In year one, train a single strong shoot as the leader, and in the following years develop arms with spurs from it. Patience at the start pays off in later harvests.

7. 7

   Keep the vine airy and thin the clusters

   Too many clusters on a young or weak vine means none of them will ripen properly. In summer, remove some of the set clusters, keeping only as many as the vine can realistically feed. Keep the inside of the vine airy too, because crowded, damp leaves invite fungal diseases.

Grapevine bleeding - why the timing matters so much

In early spring, before the leaves emerge, water and sap start moving intensively up the grapevine's canes. Cut at that moment and sap starts dripping from the wound, sometimes for many days. That is grapevine bleeding.

A few drops will not kill the vine, but heavy, prolonged bleeding weakens it and delays growth. That is why you do the main pruning in full dormancy, in the colder part of winter or just before its end, not once the buds are swelling.

Pergola or fruit - two goals, two ways to prune

If the vine is meant to cover a pergola or arbor and give shade, train it more loosely, leaving more canes and longer arms so it clothes the structure faster. Fruit takes a back seat and the vine grows more lushly.

When the fruit matters most, prune harder and more regularly: short spurs, a controlled bud count, systematic green pruning in summer. The better lit the clusters and the fewer surplus shoots, the sweeter and more reliable the harvest.

The most common grapevine pruning mistakes

The most common mistake is winter pruning done too late, after the sap has risen, which ends in heavy bleeding and a weakened vine. The second is fear of cutting: a grapevine fruits on current-year shoots growing from older wood, so without hard shortening it quickly runs wild and the clusters shrink.

Leaving too many buds is another frequent error, and the vine then sets masses of small, poorly ripening clusters. Better to limit the buds and spurs and put quality first. Do not skip the summer green pruning either, because winter pruning alone is not enough for good fruiting.

Frequently asked questions